"Alien, or, saving Valdis, in 11 parts" is an Estonian short comedy film featuring well-known Estonian actors. Many young people instantly related to its characters and the gratuitously vulgar parts of speech in this movie have become Estonian slang or memes immediately recognizable by most Estonians. It is a graduate-thesis-like student film by Rasmus Merivoo about a subculture of BMW-enthusiasts designated as "oss", similar in substance to British "chavs", and the film has become somewhat of an Estonian cult classic due to its brash nature and the wider audiences of the lead actors, who lead the half-decade-long year-ending comedy sketch show series "Tujurikkuja" (see Youtube).
The comedic elements of Alien are very culture-specific to Estonia, exemplified most obviously by the heavily vulgar and colloquial dialogue, which is otherwise unseen in Estonian movies. The now-iconic silly-drunk abuse shouted by Valdis at the metal-heads in the sauna in the very beginning, for example, has untranslatable poetic qualities such as in "ee, Situ Pihku, Prill!" ('oh, {and} excrete {in the} palm {of your own hand}, {you} glasses{-wearer}!'). Linguistically, the movie is practically an exercise in how many ways one can say something to the effect of the F-word, as a translation of "Kuradi Vitupead, Raisk" can amount to a sequence of three such words, demonstrative of the main characters' low intelligence.
As a satire or parody of a subculture Alien taps into the earlier comedic style of "rullnokad", exemplified by the late-90's comedy cult classic Wigla show (see Kanal 2 Arhiiv) lead by Jan Uuspõld and Dan Põldroos. Not only did the Wigla show feature two young drunk cap-hat wearing BMW-enthusiasts very similar to the main characters of Alien but the latter is virtually an extended and more elaborate re-telling of a one-sentence story, "Pets Sai Pedede Käest Peksa" ('Peter got beat up by homosexuals/vulgar/'), originating from the Wigla show's pilot episode. The idea that only Estonians can understand this movie is true to the extent that the main characters are portrayed very true-to-life to the fore-mentioned BMW-enthusiast subculture, and although it is explicitly critical of the portrayed way of life, its very representatives enjoy it the most.
Despite it's short running time (~20 min) it is widely considered a must-see Estonian movie due to its cultural significance, its well-known actors, and outstanding style of storytelling. It can also be praised for its musical score, which highlights the emotional tenor of everyday absurdity perfectly, such as the wholesome virtuoso classical music playing while the boys are yelling and chasing each other around a mud-puddle, interrupted abruptly once the half-eaten hamburger is thrown. A decade after its release it is still considered one of the oddest phenomena in Estonian cinema - it made all Estonians speak the same way for a brief cultural moment and made its lead actors the highlights of Estonian comedy scene.
The comedic elements of Alien are very culture-specific to Estonia, exemplified most obviously by the heavily vulgar and colloquial dialogue, which is otherwise unseen in Estonian movies. The now-iconic silly-drunk abuse shouted by Valdis at the metal-heads in the sauna in the very beginning, for example, has untranslatable poetic qualities such as in "ee, Situ Pihku, Prill!" ('oh, {and} excrete {in the} palm {of your own hand}, {you} glasses{-wearer}!'). Linguistically, the movie is practically an exercise in how many ways one can say something to the effect of the F-word, as a translation of "Kuradi Vitupead, Raisk" can amount to a sequence of three such words, demonstrative of the main characters' low intelligence.
As a satire or parody of a subculture Alien taps into the earlier comedic style of "rullnokad", exemplified by the late-90's comedy cult classic Wigla show (see Kanal 2 Arhiiv) lead by Jan Uuspõld and Dan Põldroos. Not only did the Wigla show feature two young drunk cap-hat wearing BMW-enthusiasts very similar to the main characters of Alien but the latter is virtually an extended and more elaborate re-telling of a one-sentence story, "Pets Sai Pedede Käest Peksa" ('Peter got beat up by homosexuals/vulgar/'), originating from the Wigla show's pilot episode. The idea that only Estonians can understand this movie is true to the extent that the main characters are portrayed very true-to-life to the fore-mentioned BMW-enthusiast subculture, and although it is explicitly critical of the portrayed way of life, its very representatives enjoy it the most.
Despite it's short running time (~20 min) it is widely considered a must-see Estonian movie due to its cultural significance, its well-known actors, and outstanding style of storytelling. It can also be praised for its musical score, which highlights the emotional tenor of everyday absurdity perfectly, such as the wholesome virtuoso classical music playing while the boys are yelling and chasing each other around a mud-puddle, interrupted abruptly once the half-eaten hamburger is thrown. A decade after its release it is still considered one of the oddest phenomena in Estonian cinema - it made all Estonians speak the same way for a brief cultural moment and made its lead actors the highlights of Estonian comedy scene.